Very short essay by King but the pictures are cool so it serves its purpose as a coffee table book

It has a Fold-Out!!
Beautifully photographed, and I'm already a fan of Stephen King's writing ...
The text is limited, it's a pictorial work after all. But what it has is interesting and fun. Not really informative or educational, more entertaining.
All good, I bought for the images, and because, Stephen King!
Heads-up, brilliant art reference for drawing. The photo's are large, clear, multi angled.

I loved the pictures. I can just imagine SK walking around New York, book in hand, reading as he walks, stepping on toes, occasionally looking up at... gargoyles!

A coffee table book with b&w photos of gargoyles featuring a short essay written by King. I'm giving this five stars simply because it's entertaining as heck to read Uncle Stevie talk about something that scares the bejeezus out of -him-.

Synopsis

A thought-provoking photography collection by F-stop Fitzgerald documenting architecture that we don’t always see and rarely think about introduced by the King of horror himself.

Nightmares in the Sky: Gargoyles and Grotesques by Stephen King and F-stop Fitzgerald

★★★★
Genre: Photography Collection/Short Essay
Release Date: October 1988
Source: Library – Borrowed
On My Shelf: Someday

I stumbled across this one at the Library and, well, how could I not pick it up? I was first drawn in by Stephen King’s name on the cover, but was quickly intrigued by the entire concept of the book.

I’ll start by discussing my thoughts on the essay portion. This should be pretty brief, as I’m sure many of you may already know how I feel about Stephen King. If not, I’ll tell you briefly that he is one of my favorite authors, and I’ve never come across a book by him I didn’t at least enjoy, but most I’ve, quite frankly, adored.

I loved reading this essay. Since this is so old, it was incredibly enjoyable to read something from King that was so personal and also something that wasn’t a horror book. In this essay, King talks about fear and how the gargoyles that Fitzgerald photographs incite fear into our minds because they appear to be something entirely unnatural and altogether unsettling.

I just really enjoyed reading King’s essay. I give it an easy 5 stars and definitely recommend getting this book just to read his thoughts.

Now, the photography.

I liked the photography and the concept behind it, but I wasn’t very moved by the layout. Photos have all the power to tell a story the same way written words do, and I didn’t feel that story coming through in this book. I applaud Fitzgerald for his efforts and am in support of the concepts and ideas behind this collection, but it was solely an okay experience for me. I really enjoyed the way the photographs were incorporated with King’s essay, but, once his words were finished, I found myself less unsettled and more bored (to be honest). I want to be clear that Fitzgerald’s photography was not bad, and the layout wasn’t terrible, it just didn’t work for me. I gave this section of the book 3 stars.

Overall, since I gave 5 stars to the King essay and 3 to the photography collection, I evened it out at 4. I definitely recommend this book, and especially urge fellow King fans to seek it out. The essay is worth it.

Review originally published on my Wordpress blog Dreaming Through Literature